Blank
by helenofargos
Summary: Percy wakes up in a place he doesn't recognize with people he doesn't recognize and doesn't even remmber his own name. Sound familiar yet? Hope it does. What happened to Percy during The Lost Hero? This'll help you wait for the Son of Neptune to come out.
1. Chapter 1

My day was confusing even before I fell off a cliff. Really, how simple can I make it? It was just a hectic day.

I had opened my eyes to find myself in a room I didn't know, with a snoring bunkmate I didn't know, and in pajamas I didn't know I had. If you didn't already gather, this was very unsettling to me; but there was more.

I didn't remember anything.

Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. _Nothing_.

_This _was even more unsettling. Not knowing how you got into a bed the night before is easier explained than not knowing your own name. I glanced around, trying to gather information. The band poster on the wall across from me looked more like a three-year-old doodled and scribbled in a few places around the picture than words. From this, I gathered that reading really wasn't my thing. After shaking my head and stretching a few times, I got out of bed and repeated the routine. I looked around. I had to think: where were my clothes? Did I have any? Was I in the wrong room if I didn't remember anything? Then I thought, _Even if I _was_ in the wrong room, I'd remember my name at least._

"Lost, Percy?"

I glanced around until my eyes fell on the kid on the top bunk. He had floppy, dirty blonde hair and blue eyes that looked more tired than anything.

My conclusion? Not a morning person.

Boy, was I right.

"Uh," I replied, making up excuses in my head. "I guess. I'm having a bit of short term memory loss, I guess."

"Hmm," said the kid, pointing at a dresser in the corner of the room. "You stacked your stuff out on your dresser last night. I don't know why, but you just did. You don't usually do that, but I guess you didn't want to deal with it when you woke up." He shrugged. "That's what I do."

I looked over at the dresser.

Something made me suspicious. His reply was too...uncaring? Nah, this is how people act in the morning, right? It was more of a, _go on! I promise nothing's wrong!_ tone.

I walked over to my clothes and carefully reached out to examine my clothing before putting it all on. Thankfully, I did, because they had a sort of syrup on the inside.

"Hey!" I said. The guy snickered, but kept quiet other than that. "You're trying to take advantage of my memory, huh?"

"Okay, okay," he cracked. "I did it! But it was good, huh?"

"What in the-" I started, then laughed. I realized what I was about to say and it made no sense. This was one heck of a morning.

_What in the name of Hades?_

I got good clothes on and headed downstairs with Theo. Yeah, I found out the guy's name eventually, seeing as how he wrote his name all over his basketball shoes. I called him Theo and he acted normally, so I guessed I was right.

We sat down at a table in the dinning hall. Theo was quite the joker. I found it odd to be laughing over breakfast, but I suppose it's tough not to laugh around this guy.

A girl sat down next to me at the table.

"G' mornin' sunshine." She put her arm around my shoulder and smiled. Her strawberry-blonde hair brushed my cheek. I looked up at Theo as if to ask, "Is this normal?"

He smiled, nodded his head, and winked at me.

I didn't know if that was a good or bad sign.

"Morinin'," I replied in the middle of a yawn.

"Ha, guess you didn't check the clock yet."

"Hmm?"

She looked up at me and winked. "It's noon, smart one. We're going on that field trip later today. Up for a bit of Deception Pass?"

I blinked.

"What?"

"The state park, smart one." Theo punched me lightly in the shoulder.

"Oh, right. sorry."

The girl looked at me and frowned. "You feeling all right today? You're not as cheery as you usually are." I looked down at her. She was a few inches shorter than me, but still pretty. Her eyes were a light brown that complimented the rest of her complexion. I realized I didn't even know her name. This, again, terrified me.

"I've sort of been forgetting a lot of stuff lately."

She tossed my hair a bit.

"_Dearly beloved, are you listening? I can't remember a word that you were saying..._"

"Why do you have to sing all the time?" Theo looked like he'd been driven to the point of insanity.

"What, you don't like my singing?"

"No," I answered for him. "It's great." I probably sounded really stupid when I said that.

Theo leaned over me and said, "He's forgetting. He doesn't understand. Percy's delusional."

"Yeah, yeah. Excuses." She giggled a little bit. "See you all at the bus." She got up and walked out of the dining hall.

"Man..." I looked at Theo. He looked back at me cautiously.

"You don't even remember her, do you?"

I didn't even need to respond.

No. I didn't.


	2. Chapter 2

We headed to the school buses right after breakfast. There were about 30 of us total. The bus, thankfully, fit all of us. I was stuck in a seat with Theo. I suppose it was better that way, seeing how anyone else would get completely confused and call us weirdos because I had _lost my memory_. That's really what kids would do, I knew it.

"Her name is Sally," Theo started, when we sat down. "You usually call her Salamander just to get on her nerves, it works, by the way. She's your girlfriend...or might as well be. I'm just you best friend and all, you know. I don't know _how_ you could forget that, but I guess it's possible.

"We go to boarding school in Seattle, Washington. You've only been here a year. I'll give you a copy of your schedule when we get back to the room."

"Wait, wait," I interrupted. "You have a copy of my schedule?"

"Yeah," he said, "don't worry about it. I've gotcha covered in nearly every case or situation."

_Somebody likes to be prepared, hmm?_

"Anyway, right now we're obviously on a trip to a park so, sit back and enjoy the city while you can. Hello, nature, here comes trouble!"

I laughed a bit.

He smiled and looked at me. I could almost feel his eyes glancing over me, as if scanning my expression for any sign of a lie.

"If I find out that you've been lying about this, you can expect more than a bit of prickly pear syrup in your t-shirt tomorrow."

I looked at him with wide eyes. He busted up laughing.

"Okay, okay, you're obviously not lying _now_."

When we arrived at the park, everyone was shoved out the small doors at the front of the bus and immediately greeted by a park ranger and a guy who looked like a student teacher. He must have been at least 20 years old, by the looks of it. He had brown hair that was somewhat curly and dark, he was tall, but not extremely so, and had a t-shirt and jeans as if he were expecting to go on a big, long hike (which we probably were about to go on).

"Okay! We're splitting everyone up into groups! We'll start over here..." The guy grouped us together in groups of two. Of course, when he got to us, he put Sally in another group and Theo and me in the same group.

"Everybody follow me." We followed the student-teacher-man down the trail. I turned to Theo, my mouth open, about to ask who this guy was, anyway, and, before I could say anything, Theo said, "That's Mr. Jeffrey, our student teacher in Science. He's cool, but still a bit weird."

I closed my mouth. I didn't think I was _that_ predictable. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going, so I tripped over a dead branch laying on the ground. I fell on my hands and knees, but quickly jumped back up and brushed myself off. My face felt hot with embarrassment.

"Ouch, dude." Theo was laughing at me. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I said, "accept for the fact I can't remember worth squat."

"Hey, I'm sure it's just a bit of amnesia." He patted me on the shoulder. "It'll all come back, right?"

I didn't respond. I sure hoped it came back to me.

We made it out to the water at the end of the trail and sat down on rocks to do a worksheet about the ecosystem of a pond. I didn't know the answer to most of these questions. That's beside the fact that I really didn't care if I got the answers right or not. All I cared about was what I was going to do about my memory. I looked back at Theo and suddenly asked, "What year is it?"

"Why?"

"Just curious."

He looked up from his worksheet.

"It's 2010, why?"

"I just..."

"...don't remember that either?"

I nodded my head and looked back out at the water. It made me smile. All I could think about was the beautiful, glassy surface of the water and how great it would be to just jump in and...

And then what? Look like an idiot? The only one dumb enough to just jump in the water for the heck of it?

I rubbed my eyes, yawned, and looked around at the other students. As I was, I noticed that Mr. Jeffrey was staring at me oddly. Almost as if I shouldn't be there. That bothered me, of course, but I decided to try to answer a couple of the questions before completely giving up.

"Mr. Jackson! Can I have a word?"

I looked back up at the student teacher.

"Ah, sure."

I climbed down from my rock and walked over to him.

"Nice weather, eh?" he said. "Why, I would like weather to be this nice all the time, but, obviously, if we had no rain, we wouldn't have this. It's much nicer out here than in the city, what do you think?"

"I don't mean to be rude, but did you call me over here to talk about nature, sir?"

He looked at me. He looked like he was about an inch taller than me and couldn't stand to sit still and just examine me with his eyes. He had that look that you'd imagine a cop in a movie would have when he looks at a suspicious terrorist-looking dude walking through an airport. It looked like he wanted to run me over with a metal detector baton just to be safe.

"No, Percy. I want to tell you that, whatever you think you're doing, it isn't fooling me one bit. Those kids might think otherwise, but you know as well as I do that there's something...out of place, shall we say?"

I raised my eyebrow, confused.

"What do you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean, Jackson, and I shouldn't have to explain myself."

"But..." I hesitated. "I really don't remember anything. It's the weirdest thing. I woke up this morning and I didn't even know my own name."

He examined me a bit more with those eyes of his, then his expression changed.

"Man, looks like you're right. Dang, and I thought _I_ was going to get to the bottom of this. Shoot."

"What do I do?"

"Well, for starters-"

_BOOM!_

Everyone looked up. It had started to rain and the waters were getting choppy. Everyone was backing away from the water and tucking their worksheets under their jackets and into pockets. There was another huge flash of lightning and, shortly after, an equally huge _BOOM_ that you could feel in the ground below you as well as in your ear drums.

We all headed back to the bus, but as soon as we got to the doors, the winds picked up so much that we were all forced to hold on to whatever was near us for support. The storm continued.

To answer Mr. Jeffrey's question: no, it wasn't such a nice day, and the weather was _not_ all that nice.

Just then, there was a big flash of light and another loud _BOOM!_ A tree fell down, just missing me. I, by this point, was scared out of my wits. Nothing made sense. I couldn't remember anything and I couldn't believe the sudden weather change.

To add to it all, the raining had stopped, so it was just us kids, the roaring wind, and a burning tree.

Great.

I got an idea, just then, and let my instincts take over.

"Get everyone behind the bus!" I yelled through the wind. Obviously, Mr. Jeffrey understood and listened because, directly afterwards, he told everyone to shelter themselves behind our now over-turned bus.

I guess I forgot to mention that part.

Whoops.

Anyhow, I was left, standing in front of a big ol' burning tree and had no idea what to do. Instinct and adrenaline rushed through my veins and mind and, immediately, I felt a slight tug in my gut. I waved my hand from the direction of the water toward the fire.

A gigantic wave of water rushed through the trees (less recklessly than it sounds when I try to describe it) and landed on the huge, burning log. The fire was doused quickly, and, surely enough, Mr. Jeffrey, Sally, and Theo had seen it all. None of the other kids had, of course. They were too busy freaking out or laughing nervously.

The winds were still ripping through the trees and over the pine-needle covered ground. I ran back to the others.

"We need to get out of here!" I yelled over the roar and commotion.

"No dip, Sherlock!" Theo yelled. I made a mental note to give him a hard time about the sarcasm later.

"Okay! We-" Mr. Jeffrey started, but then stopped as a dagger spiraled through the air and landed right where his hand had been a moment before. His eyes went wide and he had a sort of nervous laugh. Sally looked up and squinted her amber-like eyes against the wind. She then yelled, "Get everyone _away_ from the bus!"

Mr. Jeffrey, amazingly, followed her instructions and led the class out from behind the sideways bus. Theo and I just looked at Sally, though. She was looking directly upward still. That's when I finally got a smart idea and looked up too. There were a whole bunch of these cloud-figures. I had no idea what they were, but they looked threatening.

_Great gods..._I thought. _What is all this?_

Immediately, I thought, _Why am I thinking this?_ and, as always, if you have enough time to think _that_, then you've probably wasted too much time already.

The figures started dive-bombing the three of us.

"_Who is it? Who is it?_" they cackled.

Again, on instinct alone, I reached in my pocket and pulled out a ballpoint pen.

"Ah, dude?" Theo said to me, half watching me and half watching the figures, "I know the pen's mightier than the sword and all but I don't think-"

I uncapped the pen.

It grew into a 3 foot long sword.

_Celestial bronze. Anaklusmos: Riptide: the unexpected tide that pulls you under._

I blinked. How did I know all of that?

It shone a bright bronze color (but that's up with the "celestial" part?) with a leather hilt and the letters engraved into the side.

_Ancient Greek_, I thought.

Dang, amnesia sucks.

I swung the sword at the first one to fly at me. I sliced right through it. I was worried, for a moment, that a sword couldn't do much because they were cloud-like creatures, but the poor first victim turned into dust as soon as the blade made contact. The same happened with the second and the third. Theo had managed to find a long stick and throw it at one. It made a sort of _oof!_ noise as it was slammed up against a tree, whereupon it turned to dust like it's buddies.

Sally was standing there simply trying not to be targeted. She seemed to get an idea after I swung clear through the fifth cloud-person. She raised her hands up and said, "Απόλλων στείλτε μας Κυρ!" (**A/N: phonetic translation: Apóllon steílte mas Kyr!**)

Suddenly, her hands glowed a bright gold and the clouds parted, showing the sun instead of the raging grey above. The cloud-creatures shrieked and disappeared into thin air. Suddenly, two people ran into the parking area where we were standing. One of them, a girl with brown hair and bright blue eyes, wearing what looked like Greek battle armor (how did I even know _that_?) ran straight up to me, grabbed me by the shirt collar and said, "Where's Jason?"

**A/N: I'll make this brief: what Sally said means roughly "Apollo send us sun!" which is...practically a **_**that's so Sally**_** moment all ready! I'm getting predictable! Oh no!**


	3. Chapter 3

"Who?"

"Jason! Tell me where he is NOW!"

I hesitated, then frowned, thinking as hard as I could.

"Hey! Hey! Easy there, Reyna!" A guy ran up to us. Reyna let go of my shirt collar. It probably would have been smart for me to take a step back by then, but something about me was just telling me to stand my ground and not look like a wimp.

"Jason's probably just not here." The guy was tall and very thin and bony. He had all black on and a couple streaks of blue in his hair. His eyes were the deepest brown you could imagine and seemed to sparkle like they were trying hard not to tell how a magician does his tricks.

_Hecate, duh._ Something in my head said.

_Am I schizophrenic?_ I thought to myself, then thought better of it.

"What?" the guy asked. He looked at me.

"Did I say something?" I asked.

"No, I-"

"Jordan's able to read thoughts every now and then." She looked at me, piercingly. "Especially when he's in the presence of...well, _power_."

"You said 'Hecate'," Jordan continued.

"Yeah. I thought it, at least..."

Now things were getting awkward.

_Gods, what a crazy day_.

Jordan snickered. I gave him a look. He shut up.

"I could have sworn, though! She clearly stated _To the north you shall go, where the stronger winds blow, and there you'll find your first clue_! Does Proserpina lie any? Oh, probably. Anyway, what clue am I supposed to find here other than wind?" Reyna was obviously bugged by something, but everything was still settling in my mind. The winds around me may have stopped by then, but, I'll tell you, I still had a typhoon in my head.

"Reyna, calm down. We still have _three_ half-bloods to take care of. We can discuss this with the rest of the head councilors and Lupa later, okay?" Jordan was trying desperately to be the voice of reason in chaos.

She sighed, "Fine."

"Jeffrey?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. Be right there."

Mr. Jeffrey pulled a cell phone out of his pocket, dialed a number, then dropped it and ran up to us.

"What was all that?" Sally asked.

"Theatrics," he explained, "it'll do everyone a favor. The press'll have something to say, the kids'll get home all right, and we'll be off without further delay!"

We stared at him for a second.

"Well done, my man." Theo gave Mr. Jeffrey a high-five.

"There's no time to delay! We gotta go!" Jordan explained. We all hurried after him.

"What's going on, then?" I asked Reyna.

"You guys just need to come with us."

"Why should we?"

She looked right into my eyes and said, "If you don't want to die, I suggest you follow us."

I arched my eyebrows and nodded in agreement.

"Dude," Theo called from ahead of me. "What was all that-"

"Just...keep running!"

We made it to a big flying-machine looking thing; everyone, save for Sally, was wiped out. We climbed in and immediately gears started whirring. We lifted off the ground helicopter-style, and soared at top speed through the air.

"I feel like a complete idiot, but this is cool!" I yelled over the engine.

"Why?" Jordan called back to me.

"Because I just got in a weird flying device with two people I don't know, I don't understand anything that's going on, and I can't remember anything still!"

Jordan laughed, fully understanding what I was saying, but not willing to admit how serious it was.

"Just hang tight! We're coming to a stop soon!"

"All ready?" Sally asked.

"Yep," Jordan said, "this thing was designed by the head of Vulcan cabin! We'll be there within a minute!"

I looked over at Theo, who immediately gave me a Spock hand and laughed. "Live ling and prosper!" I yelled back at him. Reyna raised a confused eyebrow in my direction. I kept up my smile and tried to have as good of a time as I could.

Something told me that I should enjoy myself while I still could.

[Reyna's POV]

This black-haired kid was confusing me a bit. It wasn't so much the fact that he had just quoted Star Trek as loudly as possible, but it was more the fact that...well, something just told me he didn't belong here.

I first noticed this when I heard his voice through the woods.

_"Get everyone behind the bus!"_

That voice...reminded me of Jason too much. He was throwing himself into the midst of everything, whether it killed him or not, and relied mainly on instinct, seeing how he didn't remember squat. His voice pierced through me, though, with the same feeling you get after hearing a monster roar and scream bloody murder right before finding you. Percy was obviously NOT a monster, but I still had my guard up.

It seemed like we shouldn't meet at all.

It felt like there was something big and thick trying to separate all of us from him.

What was it, though?

I looked back at him again. He was laughing and smiling like a little kid. He couldn't have been younger than 15, though. His eyes were a brilliant shade of green with a hint of blue. When he laughed...it sounded like he had just been waiting for a moment to laugh like this for a while: like he was carrying a heavy weight on his back.

I knew this laugh. It was just like Jason's during and after the battle at Mount Tam. Jason had been trying hard to make me cheer up and think about what kind of rest we all could have after the Titan Krios was gone. He smiled and laughed like winds whistling through chimes and then...

What happened then?

Things went back to normal. Jason and I held hands and walked around camp together. We sat together any chance we could, we did swordplay with each other, and always got in the same canoe for racing.

Then, one night, he just disappeared.

That had been about three nights ago.

_Aye, and three's a charm!_ I thought.

No, there was something strange going on. I wasn't sure what it was, but it was...unusual. I needed to keep one eye open and trained on this Percy kid.

We went in for a landing, just as I thought that.

"First thing's first," I said. "We have to go see Lupa."

[Percy's POV]

We all unloaded from the machine. Theo and I were talking and laughing the whole time.

"Follow me," Jordan said, gesturing toward an all-stone-and-wood house in the middle of the clearing we'd landed in.

All around us, there were large cabins that either looked full of kids or completely empty. In the middle, there was a fire burning. I frowned slightly, trying to think of why this seemed so familiar to me. _Shouldn't someone be tending to the hearth?_

"What do you mean?" Jordan asked, stopping in his tracks and making me almost run into him.

"Hmm?"

Theo and Sally looked between the two of us.

"You guys have really got to stop doing that," Sally said.

"Yeah," Theo put on a false frown, "I feel left out!"

"Mmhm," I replied. "One conversation you _can't_ eavesdrop on! How do you like that?"

Theo snickered. I guess I got the point he was trying to make.

"You said-thought, sorry-that there should be someone tending to the hearth. Why?" Jordan stood in front of me.

I hesitated.

"I'm...not sure, really. It just sort of seems like I've seen something like this before...and there was a girl. She was tending to the fire. I know who she is, but I can't place my finger on it."

Jordan nodded and continued walking, mulling it over in his own mind for a bit. We reached the big wooden doors. Jordan knocked.

"Come in." The voice came from the inside of the house.

We entered. As I stepped over the threshold, I shivered. It felt like there was a fire-like tingling repelling me-keeping me away from whoever might be inside. I continued, though. I didn't want to weird out my friends (or myself) any more than necessary.

We entered a room with furnishing (which didn't seem to belong with the rest of the house). It had couches, chairs, rugs, paintings, lights, and light-wood paneled walls and floor. In the center of this room was a wolf. I stopped in my tracks when I entered the room. I don't know what made me do it, but it seemed like there was a strong force of some sort subtly and subconsciously trying to hold me back and send me back out of the camp.

Don't get me wrong, the wolf made me nervous too.

Jordan, Sally, and Theo filed into the room, not noticing that I was still standing in the threshold. The wolf still had it's eyes locked on me, however.

Then, it did something unexpected.

"What is the problem, demigod? Do you not wish to join us?" She smiled, as only a wolf can smile, I suppose.

I tried, once more to take a step forward, but my legs just didn't want to move.

"I...I can't."

The wolf cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean, _can't_?"

"I just..." I tried again, straining my mind and muscles to their limits before staggering backwards, out of breath.

"Hmm," she mumbled, "interesting. How about this: tell me your name."

"Percy."

"Whole name."

"Percy Jackson."

"Then, Percy Jackson, I, Lupa, mother of Rome, allow thee to enter our midst at Legion Camp safely."

Nothing happened.

"Now try..."

I stepped forward, then attempted to get past the threshold again. Nothing. It still made me work too hard.

"Boy," Lupa asked, "did you tell me your whole name?"

I struggled against the invisible barrier.

"I don't know! That's all I can remember!"

She stared at me in silence, taking everything in. Watching me struggle, but not entirely focused on the concept.

"Percy's had a bout of amnesia," Sally pointed out.

"That's right," Theo added, "This morning he couldn't even remember _any_ part of his name."

"Think hard, boy!" Lupa demanded. "Try to remember!"

"Is it necessary?" I asked, hearing the strain in my own voice. "I could just talk from out here."

"Nonsense!" Lupa said, with amusement. "I want you to actually be in my company, not be standing, isolated from the rest of us!"

I stopped struggling and thought as hard as I could to remember what the rest of my name was. Nothing was happening.

Lupa suddenly walked forward. I stumbled and fell backwards, landing on my back. I couldn't find it in me to get up. Lupa stood over me, looking very closely, deep into my eyes, sniffing my head. I had a massive headache from trying to ignore the silent warnings that only I seemed to be receiving.

She stood up straight and tipped her head out of curiously.

"Greek."

I raised an eyebrow.

"Not Roman. Greek. That's why...strange..."

I was thinking, _Wow, that much from one sniff?_

Jordan snickered from the other room. I lifted my head up to give him a look, then flopped back down.

"What?" Theo asked, breaking the silence that had fallen for more than ten seconds.

"It seems...you really..."She looked down at where I was, peering right into my eyes. "You are quite unusual, not being able to cross into the room. That only happens to monsters and intruders. Why would that happen to you?"

I looked at her and shrugged while on the ground.

"Lie still." I did as she said. The wolf circled me, sniffing my hands, feet, and head occasionally. She eventually stopped at my head once more.

"Who are you?"

I looked up, into her dark eyes.

"I'd like to know the same thing."


	4. Chapter 4

It's sad when you don't remember your own name. I felt almost sick by the time we figured something out.

"What could Percy be short for, do you think?" Sally asked.

"Um..." I thought out loud. "Maybe..."

"Percival?"

Everyone looked at Jordan. He shrugged.

"What?" Theo and Lupa said in unison.

"Nothing."

"Really?" Sally asked. He shrugged again.

"I know!" I said, my knees jumping up as I said it. "Perseus! Perseus Jackson!"

Somewhere, at that moment, a loud crack of thunder rang across the camp.

Lupa stared at me in disbelief. I looked back up at her and said, "What's wrong?"

"Oh," she replied, "nothing. Just...I have heard that name before, though I am not sure where."

We sat in silence for a moment.

"Perseus Jackson, I, Lupa, mother of Rome, allow thee to enter our midst at Legion Camp safely."

A feeling of relief swept over me, and I felt my consciousness slip away with the headache.

I heard Sally say my name.

I heard Lupa say something as well.

I blacked out.

I woke up to find myself lying in what felt like an infirmary cot. I definitely didn't feel a force or pressure like I had before. I was in my now beaten up jeans (wind, dirt, and soot do not combine well with jeans), no shoes, no shirt, and had a blanket wrapped around me.

You know that feeling that you get when you wake up on a school morning and you're so warm and comfortable you don't want to get out of bed? That's exactly what I was feeling: exhausted, comfortable, but unable to sleep any more. I decided to get up after a while, though.

I stood up and stretched. My toes were sinking into the dirt floor. It felt good, but what I really wanted to do was go for a swim.

I searched around and found a pair of shorts supplied for me, put them on, tossed a t-shirt on, and headed for the door. I grabbed the door handle and immediately felt a searing pain shoot up my arm. I let go immediately. The door handle was burning hot!

Didn't look like I was getting out that way any time soon. I looked around and found that the window had frosted glass, so you couldn't see anything outside. _Great,_ I thought, _I might as well jump to my death if I did _that_. I just need to...figure out what in the name of Hades is going on first._

I went around to each wall, knocking and tapping, trying to find a hollow spot. That's when I thought, _Hey! Why don't I just break the glass in the window and open it? Or maybe kick down the door!_

Why I didn't think of this sooner, I don't know.

So I tried it. I swung a fist at the glass on the window. Nothing came of that but a slightly aching fist. I pulled out Riptide and swung it at the window. It cut clean through. I poked my head out the window to see nothing but shrubs. I was ready to jump up and climb out, when I realized I'd never fit through the opening.

Well, so much for that plan.

Why was I in there anyway? Were they trying to contain me? Had I been captured? Did I have another bout of amnesia? Maybe they were testing me. I had no idea what it could be.

I backed up to the other side of the room, and ran straight at the door, top speed. As soon as I kicked the door, foot-long spikes stuck out and _should have_ impaled my leg. They didn't, though. They poked and stabbed at my leg, but never once broke the skin.

I, amazingly, wasn't surprised in the least. _Curse...maybe. Achilles definitely had _some_ advantages, though. _

I pulled my leg back, off the wall, and blinked a few times. I probably wouldn't get used to those random, unexplained thoughts for a little while. Curse of Achilles? That was crazy! How did I remember anything about it, too? As I thought this, I headed back over to the cot and sat down.

Suddenly, I was somewhere else..._with_ someone else. I had an orange t-shirt and jeans on. I was standing on a bank of black sand with a kid, a few years younger than myself, who looked like he'd been sleeping in a coffin for a few months.

He was warning me of something, but I couldn't make out the words. I turned around and saw a man standing directly in front of me. I couldn't make out much of what he said, either. What I heard sounded pretty much like: "Imagine...spot...will remain vulnerable...Styx...whether you survive...sealed your doom!"

And, on that happy note, I woke up on the cot, freezing cold.

Apparently, since I had fallen asleep, someone had turned the heat _way_ down. When I said that, I imagined Sally coming up with a song that went along with what I was saying. I wondered what she and Theo were doing. Then, I stopped, distracted by the cold again.

Why was it so cold?

I got up and pulled on my beat-up jeans and a second shirt, then climbed back in the bed. It wasn't night time...

After a while, I was so cold, I had curled myself up into a ball, conserving what little heat I had left. Thankfully, a breeze blew in through the window and, suddenly, the temperature rose. Next thing I knew, however, it was getting extremely hot. I was shedding layers of t-shirts and blankets until I was simply lying sprawled out on the floor in my shorts. Again, a breeze came through the window and everything went back to normal.

Thankfully, that was it for the weather troubles.

I was getting extremely confused. What was going on? Why was everything so strange, and why could I still not remember anything about myself? That strange vision I had had was not helpful in the least. In fact, it made things even more annoying and confusing. _Sealed your doom_, was bothering me too. What kind of guy was I?

I fell asleep, contemplating all of this.

No dreams came.

[Theo]

"Dude, what the he-"

My air was cut off. I was in a room where I had woken up only a matter of minutes before the water started flowing in.

I guess I should explain myself.

The night that Percy had had his difficulty in the Main Cabin was strange, but bearable compared to this. I was slowly loosing the ability to hold my breath in a flooding room.

I had been taken here by the girl named Reyna. She was pretty nice, thankfully, and took me straight to my own cabin/room place.

"Why's it called _Sorting Cabin_?" I'd asked.

"Hmm? Oh, I don't know. It should be called the Ordeal Cabin, if you ask me."

"What?"

"Curfew's in a few minutes," she said, changing the subject. "I suggest you get to bed ASAP."

I nodded. "M'kay."

I strolled into the room and immediately collapsed onto the bed. I was hoping Percy would be okay, same with Sally. Percy had, hopefully, woken up by then, but maybe he hadn't.

Maybe he was in a coma.

That's when I realized how soap-opera-ish I was getting. Why the hell would he be in a coma? Where'd I come up with _that_ idea?

Anyway, I had woken up the next morning, changed into a purple shirt and shorts when, suddenly water had started flowing in.

I started swimming around, freaking out, going, "Man! Not cool! Not cool!" The water flowed in fast. I splashed around, trying to find an off button or a nice drain. Nothing. Next thing I knew, I was swimming underwater, loosing my breath fast. That's when I remembered _The window! Of course!_

I used all the strength I had to kick open the window. It started at about waist-height and stretched up pretty far. It was way too small for me to climb through, but it was good enough for water to flow out of. A whole bunch came rushing out, so fast, in fact, that I had to hold onto the door handle (which was locked). Soon enough, the water was only waist-high and I was panting like a dog in August.

Two holes appeared out of nowhere on the floor, and the rest of the water drained away.

Where _was_ I?

"_The Ordeal Room,_" Reyna had said. Now, why was that bad?

Oh, yeah, ordeal, smart one. Ordeal as in test of abilities. This should be fun (not).

All I could do was sit and wait on my miraculously dry bed, planning an escape and waiting for my next trial.

[Sally]

Shoot, I was so scared when Percy passed out. Lupa told me to keep calm, but I rushed over to him anyway.

"Who are you?" I asked Lupa. "Really, who are you?"

"Mother of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome," she replied nonchalantly.

I squinted my eyes at her.

"He seems to be out completely," I said in order to change the subject _and_ save me form further confusion.

"He is very strong, I should not worry about his overall health until morning."

I looked back up at her, from Percy and said, "What does that mean?"

"He is powerful," Jordan said. He had kept quiet for the past couple of minutes. "That's how I could read his thoughts. I only can read peoples' minds when they have great power. For example, I could read Krios' mind when we were on Mt. Tam. I could read the mind of a child of the big three, even, when they expressed great or interesting emotion."

"Big three? Like in World War II?" Theo asked.

"Well, sort of," Jordan replied. "World Wars had the gods involved. The big three are Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto."

"Umm...Roman Gods?" I asked, confused.

"Indeed," Lupa replied. "Call them what you may: God, Gods, Angels, Creators...they are the superior beings who created and affect much of the world today and in ancient times."

I raised my eyebrows in curiosity. Before I could ask any more questions, Percy groaned and rolled over, onto his side.

"He may be doing that for a little while," Lupa noted.

I put my hand on his forehead, thought about soothing things like hot cocoa, the beach, clouds...and Percy relaxed. I took my hand off his forehead, then, because there was a light of some sort above my head. I looked up to see what it was. There was a golden lyre hologram-like image floating over my head.

"Well, here is our first to be claimed."

I raised my eyebrow at Lupa's comment.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"Sally," Lupa said, "Your father is the god Apollo, god of music, poetry, and the sun."

Theo whistled, "Well, we know where you get it from, now." I glared at him. He winked back at me and laughed.

The day was just getting weirder and weirder.


	5. Chapter 5

[Percy]

When I woke up, it was pitch black in the room. I couldn't see two inches in front of my nose and, to tell the truth, it was a bit disturbing. I closed my eyes again. _Darn room has one, tiny window. It's probably night time._

I didn't want to get up for that reason alone. If I got up _now_, I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep until morning. There was suddenly a slight breathing noise…and it wasn't coming from me. This immediately strikes panic into the heart of nearly any demigod who wishes to live a nice, long, abnormal life. I glanced around on instinct, even though I couldn't see squat. I stuck my hand in my pocket, pulling out Riptide. As soon as I uncapped the pen, I could see everything in the room because of the glow it gave off. At the end of the bed, sat a snake, which was none too happy to see the blade. It slithered back a bit before hissing a warning at me like a disgruntled teenager saying, "Turn out the lights! I'm trying to sleep in here!"

I whispered, "Sorry buddy. I'll move it away if you don't bite me." The snake didn't look like it wanted to keep any promises. I shrugged and moved the blade, setting it down behind me. The serpent stayed where it was for a moment, as if deciding what to do next, then slid up next to me. I swallowed hard, thinking about what I should do. Eventually, I decided that it was just better to get up and move away from it.

I grasped my sword's hilt in my hand, picked it up and slowly stepped on to the floor. My shadow was cast across the room, eerily. Suddenly, the snake disappeared right before my eyes. I was about to get worried about that, when the moonlight shone through the broken window, illuminating the parts of the room that riptide's glow didn't hit. There was a lifting sensation, like you get in an elevator, which made me feel more and more uncomfortable. Suddenly the door opened wide, revealing the night…_sky_.

I was floating up very high. That's probably why I was having a hard time. I knew I wasn't afraid of heights, but that didn't mean that they didn't make me nervous. It's that feeling that you get…guilt it's called, when you know you're doing something you shouldn't be. That feeling was weighing me down by the pit of my stomach. I took one peek out the door, and lightning cracked somewhere above my head. The thunder that followed was immensely loud, forcing me back inside the room. The door shut, clicking the lock as it went, and the sensation disappeared. I was standing in the middle of the room which was now back on the ground where it belonged. I glanced out the window. Yes, there were shrubs out there, confirming my safe arrival back on solid earth. Then, I immediately began feeling the shaking sensation of an earthquake. Everything around me rattled and shook. Everything, that it, accept for me. Nothing happened to me, really. I had just a little trouble keeping myself on two feet, but not as much trouble as it seemed I should have had.

It got extremely irritating after a while. I dropped to my hands and knees and felt a tugging sensation in my gut before the earthquake stopped. I rolled over onto my back. There was a long pause this time. It was a good thirty minutes, I'd guess, before the next event happened. I was getting more and more annoyed the longer I waited. What was going on? I was beginning to believe more and more that these were intentional events. Someone _was_ testing me…but who? I had no idea. The last thing I remembered seeing was Lupa and Sally staring down at me, but that was strange mainly because it seemed like a lot had happened between waking up in this room and passing out on the floor of the building Lupa, Theo, Sally, Jordan, and I had been in. While I'd been lost in my thoughts, I had dozed off. I decided against getting back in the bed after having seen the snake, just in case it was still there. What woke me up, however, was a knock on the door. I didn't want to open it in case it was another event waiting to happen.

Instead, I mumbled, "Who's there?"

"It's Jordan!"

I jumped up and headed over to the door, but stopped before I touched the door handle. Something stopped me…that something was an experience I remembered: Cyclopes can imitate voices and, honestly, whether it was a Cyclops I knew or not, I didn't want to take the chance.

"How do I know for sure?"

"Uhm," he said cautiously, "well, you _don't_ really…"

"Right," I replied, putting a hand on Riptide and taking a deep breath in and out before opening the door. The handle didn't scald me this time and, indeed, it was Jordan on the other side. He smiled at me, standing in the doorway wearing a new purple t-shirt and khaki shorts, wielding a celestial bronze sword.

"You okay? You look a bit spooked," he commented as I closed the door behind me. I turned to face him and glared.

"You know perfectly well that I'm not okay." I heard a giggle come from somewhere nearby, then a familiar voice sing quietly, "_I'm not okay, you wear me out_." I turned towards the voice and saw Sally wearing a similar purple shirt and her less-beaten up pair of skinny jeans, cuffed a bit to show yellow high-tops. She tousled my hair when she got close enough to do so. I was just so out of it that I didn't do much other than smile back at her.

"Am I becoming the predictable one? Sorry you had to go through that. It usually just sorts out the unclaimed demigods immediately, but you had to go through a good chunk of the test. We ought to go get Theo, too." Jordan started off in one direction. I ran after him and Sally ran after me, giving me a confused look as she did so.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Some test to sort out which demigod belongs to which godly parent. Sadly it's not that easy. We've had to pull some kids out before they could finish just _one_ test before. Percy here went through the majority of the tests before he gave us any feedback."

"_Feedback?_" I exclaimed, "What's that supposed to mean? You mean all that was to get me to stop a bit of shaking?"

"Not the shaking in particular," Jordan replied. "You just happened to give us _that_ sign. There were so many things you could have done if you were someone else, but the few things you did do showed us enough to get an idea of who you are."

"_What?_"

"Never mind, I'll explain later." We arrived at another small cabin like mine. Jordan opened the door with extreme ease. This seemed to bother him. I looked around and saw a corner of another purple t-shirt sticking out from one side of the hut. I tapped Jordan on the shoulder and pointed in that direction. He nodded and snuck forward, taking to step around the corner. I saw the string too late to warn him. It snapped and a wheel was heard somewhere. A weight was loosened and a bucket…scratch that, a _trash can_ filled with water was set off balance on the corner of the roof, sending it falling towards Jordan.

I jumped forward and said, "Oy! Jordan! Look alive!" He looked up, picking something off of my mind, and widened his eyes. He got out of the way super-fast, not getting a single drop on himself. What I failed to notice was that there was a second string, leading to right above where I was standing. Okay, so who makes a two-part trap better than Theo? Very few people.

The water fell in slow-motion, it seemed. I noticed it last second and felt a sort of tug in my gut. Suddenly, it stopped moving at all. I stood up straight and just stared at it for a second.

"What…" Jordan started.

"I remember," I said, a few more memories trickling back right then, making things seem clearer. "Perseus Jackson, son of Poseidon…I'm pretty positive now."

Sally and Jordan stared at me for a moment. Theo's head popped around the back of the hut and saw the scene. I could tell by just glancing at him out of the corner of my vision, he was grinning like an idiot.

"Well, that's something, alright."


End file.
